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Well I have been collecting and painting up my Circle of Orboros force for Hordes. I've got a sizeable force now with a good selection of beasts both living and construct, all the primal casters, shifting and sentry stones and 2 units of infantry (WoO + UA and Druids) and I really love my Druid beasts and rocks theme. I'd really love to do a Stonehenge-eske themed board to go with them.

So my thoughts as to what a second faction I might collect have been forming, and as I liked the theme of the trolls (but not all of the models) and they were kind of my throw up initially between Circle and them but the warp wolf figure and a fortuitous trade sealed the deal.

Now that i've played the game a bit and read a lot more of the story I'm feeling a lot more love towards the Skorne. I love how they've really fleshed out the evil fascist nature but strict sense of duty.

The bit that put it over the top for me was the stuff that they got in Metamorphosis. Molik Karn (sp?) looks awesome, as do the void spirits and the Void Seer Mordikaar overall theme and miniature. To be honest after reading the book I would have gone with them on Mordikaar alone.

Anyway I'll have to start looking at a starting force for them. Any advice based on the interests are welcome.

I'm pretty sure that I'll avoid the starter set as I only like the Cyclops warbeasts out of that, and I'd probably only get one of them anyway. I'm really a "one of each" collector and player unless something is just too cool or not by choice (2 sentry stones and 2 argus) LOL the 2nd argus is not in the cool category.

The titan gladiator doesn't seem to be taken by anyone outside of Tooth and Claw games and I really don't like the mini. The Bronzeback and the Rhinodon seem the coolest for the big ones.

I'd love to get Mordikaar, a couple of void spirits and a unit of cataphracts to start out with. I'm not sure whether I like the Arcuarii or the Cetrati better at this stage. The Arcuarii models look cooler definitely so that will be probably what I go with, though the Cetrati seem much more ubiquitous if I was to use other casters.
What beasts do you think would go well with him? As I said I like the Molik Karn figure a lot but not sure if he'd mesh well with Mordikaar.

Does anyone have any other beast suggestions?

The two I've seen the most have been the Cannoneer and the Krea, but that's not
saying much since I haven't played against much Skorne. I'm not even sure how
well they'd interact with mordikaar either.

The Krea is a great Light warbeast, it has a great animus, it's ability is the same, hit has 2 claws with average power for a light, and it's fury 4 for under 70pts. I wouldn't leave home without one if you do plan on using Mordikaar.

Mardikaar can pop his feat and this will really allow you to "pick" your battles for that turn. Having this with the Krea will annoy the crap out of people, or at least it would me.

Like Mal said, the Cannoneer is in almost every list I've seen from Skorne. The Bronzeback is a great model, but it's really just a Gladiator on roids'. I would rather have the chain-attack, and the benifits are a harder slam power attack.

Thr Rhinodon is the Sweetest model I've ever seen! One problem is it's claw attacks hit like a light. You really have to make sure your Warlock is giving him his animus when he starts swinging, 2 tail attacks, and then force for the tail some more. OR you could use the horn, then force use the tail without the special attack, then just keep forcing and keep smashing things.

Last thing, the Cetrati are more cost effective IMHO. Shield Wall is a great addition to any list, and Centrati are already brutal in combat. Adding +2 to damage roll on a charge and their already high P+S13 attack is just nasty, and they have reach with a CMA. This makes everything a possible target for them.

Take it with a grain of salt, since I dont play Skonre I can only pop out theory. YMMV. Hope this helped.

I would definitely go for the Cetrati over the arcuarii. They dont have weapon master, but there surviveability is much greater.
Every time I've run the Arcuarii, my thoughts have kind of been "meh, I could have used those points better elsewhere".
A melee oriented, squishy unit like that just needs to be more mobile imo. Whereas the Cetrati fill the much needed defensive role better.

I'll 3rd the Krea comments though as I think it is the best beast Skorne has as of right now. Two would be even better, but then people start getting pissed off at you.

Ok so the common sentiments are:

Krea are auto includes because of their usefulness.
Shaman is also great.
Titan Canoneer is a good purchase.
Rhinodon is a great mini and useful on the table.

Cetrati are better than Arcuarii when comparing the two for purchase.

So my list (of models not a playing list)will look something like:

Mordikaar
Molik Karn
Shaman
Krea
Rhinodon
Cannoneer
Void spirit
Bloodrunners
Extoller Soulward
Cataphract Cetrati
Tyrant and banner bearer.

Any advice on making a list out of those models and thoughts on how it would play?

My idea's on using spirit in amber is on the cetrati to keep getting charges off.

The bloodrunners can get into perfect positions with their teleport for mordikaars spray explosion effect.

Putting Molik Karns ability for the opponent not to be able to force for a turn combined with mordikaars feat ensures an impotent turn for the opponent followed up with possible assassination through the use of soulwards ghost sight ability and adding in the ghostly ability from mordikaar.

Also using Moliks karn's animus on Mordikaar as a kind of advance and retreat mechanism before or after the feat turn for safety and also using it to protect the soulward.

So yeah my list would like to include those models...not sure of there will be any more points left in 500.

Mordikaar
Molik Karn
Krea
Shaman
Blood Runners
Cetrati
Extoller Soulward
Void Spirit

BeefyG wrote:
Cetrati are better than Arcuarii when comparing the two for purchase.

Mordikarr's spirit in amber spell lets you bring back a trooper for a round so the Arcuarii are actually not that bad with him if you really like them. I use them and they do get killed a lot but hardly ever wiped out. I don't have the Centrati guys because they just don't seem interesting...all they are is hard to kill.

Hard to kill is a good thing in my book

Though I agree that the arcaurii are neater fluff and rule wise. They truly are the elite.

Hmmm, yeah I liked the arcuarii much more in terms of mini's and story. Just wasn't sure how they'd pan out on the table. I've heard bad things about them, and read a lot of negativity.

I think mordikaar could give them a new lease on life however so I might still go that way that I first intentioned. I'll have to see what models I can get via trades etc. first.

Ok,

So i've been trying to paint my circle of orboros army up to an almost completed level. (Got 2 units of wolves of orboros, a gorax, an argus, krueger, 2 woldwardens, druids, shifting stones, 1 sentry stone and 6 mannakins, and a wayfarer to go :( ) Haha I've painted Kaya, Baldur, 2 Warp Wolves, Gnarlhorn Satyr, Argus, Sentry stone so far.

Basically I have a problem and I can't help myself. I've managed to "acquire" read "buy" an almost complete skorne force in the last little while in a number of seperate deals.

So I have:

Casters:
Morgoul
Hexeris

Beasts:
2 savages
1 brute
1 gladiator
1 canoneer
1 drake
1 krea

Units:
4 ferox
6 arcuarii

Solos:
orin midwinter
void spirit
extoller
2 ancestral guardians

Will buy:

Mordikaar when he comes out.
unit of karax

Thinking about getting:
Venators (min or max?)
Molik Karn (eventually).


Ok has anyone got any insights into playing with the figures that i've already got?

I plan on playing a lot of battlebox games first to get a feel for the army then building up to playing 500 points games.

I haven't played those two much beyond the Battlebox. The Krea is your supreme denial
piece, but I haven't tried the Drake. The Canonneer seems to see more play than Titan Gladiators
due to its STR debuff.

Your two units of expensive warrior models aren't going to be enough to keep Ancestral
Guardians fueled. If you're looking to make good use out of them you'll want to run
more of the cheaper single wound infantry such as Swordsmen or Paingivers.

The extoller + The cannonneeer or + Venators = Invisibility problems solved. If you field the
Extoller your best bet is to run him with either of those models as he can both keep up
with them and give the Skorne a ranged advantage (yeah, I know!).

Ha! I totally forgot about the pain givers!

Yes I have a minimum unit of them. I got them with the battle box as they seem to be a *must have* unit if you like using beasts in hordes.

Venators are pretty cool especially when they CRA

I use a unit in almost every game if they don't shoot well then they provide tokens for the Guardian.

I'm getting quite interested in trying them with Karax as kneel means they can provide a buffer and I can add in a catapult or two to shoot over them (Karax don't take blast damage and stop AOE's).

I am getting the karax for sure. I really like the models (their shields are lovely) and I've already gone the arcuarii way over the cetrati.

Is the catapult any good? Or do you need to use the karax to make it work?

I think the venators would be a staple in many skorne lists. I'll start with a minimum unit when I get to playing the army Cheers